closeted character

In a small town about an hour’s drive outside Dublin, there’s a whiskey distillery.

Jim has worked in the distillery as its business manager since he returned to his home town after getting his degree. Whiskey is a slow business and rural life is quiet, but Jim takes it in his stride. That is, until the handsome and mysterious Mr Aiden Rooney moves into a room above the local pub and sets off a flurry of gossip.

Aiden’s an artist, and his devil-may-care attitude is a revelation to Jim. But he still lives in a small town in rural Ireland, and he’s not even sure if he wants to be out and proud. The choices they make could change everything, if only Jim dares to follow his heart.

I love Ireland so any romance or book with Ireland as a setting usually has me at the narrative “hello”. I also say the same about whiskey so Whiskey Kisses by Anna Martin seemed like a sure bet. While what I found didn’t fulfill my hoped-for promise indicated by the blurb, it still remains a very nice love story, one I think most people will enjoy.

Told from the perspective of Jim/James/Jimmy (depending upon who you are talking to in his large family and small town), he makes for a sweet narrator of his own story and romance. He tells us of his childhood, his injury, his brief escape to college and city life and his amazingly happy and content return to the village he was born into and now resides.

The only drawback? His sexuality and basic closeted status. Which gets a good shakeup when an artist comes to town in the form of Aiden. It’s one look and Jim is quite smitten as is the artist. The pursuit and romance is on. The rest of the story is lovely, mostly angst free and short.

All that’s wonderful except that it meant that the romance had too much instant love for me. Jim/James is closeted but falls right into the arms of Aiden (almost literally). The move in together and love seems practically instantaneous (even though it’s separated by a few “and a few weeks/months later”). The flow of the story just doesn’t seem to indicate too broken of a time line for me to get a feeling of time passing here.

While I loved Jim and family, Aiden always felt like more of a blank canvas. In some stories, even when you only have one pov, you get many fully formed characters, but Aiden always felt less than substantial. I still rooted for the couple to succeed, but I would have loved to have more personality or as much a character foundation to Aiden as I did for Jim.

But my real quibble here? Somehow the elements of whiskey and village life could just as easily been transported to another country altogether. The story is called Whiskey Kisses! So give us some real whiskey goodness here, some good old Irish background on the peat, wood barrels, something! Give us some marvelous foundation to wrap this story around, not bookkeeping and a dreary employee lunch room. Make this section come alive for us and the rest of the village too while we are at it. I’ve been to Ireland many times but other than the names of the nieces and nephews, you’d never know it honestly. You could have transplanted this story anywhere.

So, for me Whiskey Kisses is a light romance, a short sweet read. Not what I had hoped for but if that’s what you are looking for, this is the story for you.

Cover art is very generic. I don’t know who this model is but I’m seeing him all over the place. He’s so cute but where’s are the elements of the story?

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Audra North here today talking about her release Midlife Crisis. Welcome, Audra!

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One of the reasons I loved writing Midlife Crisis is because the story is about three things I love very much: 1. self-acceptance; 2. family and friendship bonds; and 3. Texas.

In Midlife Crisis, Cam McGhee—one of the main characters—is on a fifty-year journey of self-acceptance. Because of the time in which he was born and raised, because of his familial and community background, because of so many things that go into influencing a person’s sense of self, he has spend the first half of his life wanting to accept who he is and live fully as himself, but resigning himself to never being able to. When circumstances change, and the opportunity to change his way of living is presented to him, though, he realizes the shift is easier said than done…even for a man in his fifties.

Family and friends play a big role in the book, too. Cam’s family is a source of angst and support at the same time. Dave Montoya, the other main character, has a tight-knit group of friends that looks out for him, and a sister who always has his back. For this particular story, I didn’t want to write any characters who were directly trying to undermine Cam and Dave’s journey, especially when Cam’s biggest enemy is himself—his own fears.

Oh, Texas. The third thing I love very much, though I have a complicated relationship with the state where I was born and raised (I now live in New England). Midlife Crisis takes place in Texas because of the ease of which a person can travel between rural farm communities and big cities, but still maintain that fundamental identity of Texan (it’s a thing, if any of y’all are from Texas or know Texans or watch Texans on TV). It’s an anchor point for Cam as he moves through an emotional tumultuous time in his life, and the constant of “Texas” helps him explore a new life of self-acceptance with more security.

In the end, this book is about the things I love, but at its core it’s about love, itself. Love through the self, love through connections, and love of one’s home are all secondary to the ability to love, in the first place.

About Midlife Crisis

Cam McGhee grew up like any other small-town Texas farm boy: he played football, went to church every Sunday, and married his high school sweetheart. But thirty-five years after he said “I do,” Cam finds himself nursing a beer in a gay bar, thinking about what might have been.

Dave Montoya is confident, self-assured, and cautiously single. But when he meets shy, uncertain, and clearly-still-not-out Cam in a coffee shop in Austin, his reservations about getting seriously involved again disappear. Cam is everything he’s looking for in a partner . . . almost, anyway.

No matter how much Dave wants him, and how good they are together, Cam can’t bring himself to openly embrace the life he was meant to live. After all, when his secret finally gets out, he faces the very real possibility of losing everything that kept him going for the first fifty years of his life, just like he’s feared for so long. But with a little faith—and a lot of love—his dream of living fully, truly, as himself might finally be within reach.

Audra North is a contemporary romance author of more than twenty romances, including the Stanton Family series, the Hard Driving series, and the Pushing the Boundaries series. She is the owner and publisher of Pink Kayak Press, which focuses on the publication of diverse romance works. Winter Rain, a Pink Kayak Press anthology, won a gold medal in the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards.

Audra enjoys speaking to writing groups and at industry conferences. She is also an avid jogger and loves running marathons. She has three children and lives with her family outside of Boston.

For more about Audra, and to sign up for her newsletter, visit audranorth.com.

To celebrate the release of Midlife Crisis, one lucky winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on September 2, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for followingthe tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Elyse Springer today on her Heels Over Head tour. Welcome, Elyse!

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Hello, and welcome to the blog tour for Heels Over Head, my new sports romance where Olympic diving hopefuls battle it out on the platform… while discovering friendship, family, and love along the way. I hope you enjoy reading Jeremy and Brandon’s romance as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I’ll be stopping on several blogs throughout the week, so I hope you’ll follow along and join in the discussion. Plus, don’t forget to leave a comment at the end of the post… you’ll be entered to win an Amazon gift card!

About Heels Over Head

Jeremy Reeve is one of the best divers in the world, and he’s worked hard to get where he is. He intends to keep pushing himself with one very clear goal in mind: winning gold at the summer Olympics in two years. That medal might be the only way to earn his father’s respect as an athlete.

Brandon Evans is everything Jeremy isn’t: carefree, outgoing, and openly gay. With his bright-blue eyes and dramatic tattoos, he’s a temptation that Jeremy refuses to acknowledge. But Jeremy can’t ignore how talented Brandon is—or that Brandon has no interest in using his diving skills to compete.

They’re opposites who are forced to work together as teammates, but Jeremy’s fear of his own sexuality and Brandon’s disinterest in anything “not fun” may end their partnership before it begins. Until a single moment changes everything, and they help each other discover that “team” can also mean family and love.

Elyse is an author and world-traveler, whose unique life experiences have helped to shape the stories that she wants to tell. She writes romances with LGBTQ+ characters and relationships, and believes that every person deserves a Happily Ever After. When she’s not staring futilely at her computer screen, El spends her time adding stamps to her passport, catching up on her terrifying TBR list, and learning to be a better adult.

She’s always happy to chat with other readers, and you can find her online at:

To celebrate the release of Heels Over Head, one lucky winner will receive a $10 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on June 3, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for followingthe tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Dylan Philips admits it himself: he’s a relentlessly single man in a small suburban town, both proud of and resigned to being a good teacher and a devoted nephew to his mischievous great-aunts.

When the aunts take a hand in matchmaking him with Josie Whitman, the girl who lives along the street, Dylan doesn’t tell them what kind of soul mate he’s really looking for—and the fact that he’s already found the man in question. It’s not Josie who’s travelling from London every month to her town property, but her journalist brother Neal. And Dylan meets up with Neal whenever he can.

But decisions must be made for their future. Dylan is risk-averse to everything from overseas travel to coming out, whereas Neal embraces adventure—and now he wants to take Dylan with him.

Horrified that his chance at love will move even further out of his reach, Dylan realises it’s time for him to own up to what kind of man he really is. He needs to find courage and compromise. And who knows whether the great-aunts will be a help or a hindrance with that?
First Edition published as A Good Neighbor by Amber Quill Press/Amber Allure, 2009.

Author Bio

Clare took the pen name London from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters.
Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind . . . she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.
All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!

Wade Porter spent his whole life in the shadow of a lover who doled out snippets of love and time as he saw fit—and who insisted that love stay deep in the closet. But now that man is gone, and Wade finds the oceanside cottage where they spent so many weekends together in the Florida Keys cold and empty. He has come one last time, not even sure he wants to keep living.

To his surprise, the house next door is occupied by another bereaved and lonely man. Kent Walker is an artist of romantic gay paintings who is open to the future—and determinedly interested in Wade. Kent wants to show Wade the beauty in being an openly gay man and the possibilities for a real relationship.

Maybe Kent can help Wade let go of the past and discover a better way to live—and love.

After finishing New Lease by B. G. Thomas, the first thought that came to mind was “short and sweet” – but after taking some time to reflect on what I had just read, I realized that there is so much more to it. The writing is fluid and to the point with no piece of information feeling superfluous or unnecessary. The location was well-chosen and I liked how the author used the environment to incite thoughts and memories within Wade, from whose point of view the story is told. After having lost the only lover he has ever known, he is struggling to find a way back into a regulated life. The author did a good job at leading us through his head and you really get a sense of how the character feels almost stranded (emphasized by his surroundings) because of his inability to let go of the past. I was also quite surprised to hear that Wade is already fifty-one years old. His shyness and inexperience, especially when it comes to relationships, led me to expect a much younger man.

Wade forms an apt contrast to the natural and dynamic Kent, whom I took an immediate liking to. It is especially encouraging to read how comfortable and self-confident he feels with his homosexuality – something that Wade is only slowly allowing himself to do. I admired Kent for his positive outlook on life and how he deals with his own sadness. I only wished you could have learned a bit more about his past life and relationships. Through Wade’s flashbacks and explanations, you also learn quite a bit about Gene, Wade’s former lover, whom I found to be a rather intriguing character as well. It almost makes me wish the author would write a sort of prequel to this story, in which the reader gets to experience Wade’s and Gene’s relationship first-hand.

Despite its length, the story addresses a variety of complex, personal issues: losing a loved one, facing an uncertain future and coming to terms with one’s own wishes and desires. It made me think and genuinely sympathize with the characters and their situation. After all is said and done, this story left a pleasantly hopeful taste in my mouth and I quite enjoyed reading it.

The cover art by Bree Archer may seem simple at first but fits the story quite well and takes on a different layer of meaning once you’ve read it.

Gigi Rosenberg is living his best life: performances in the big city, side gigs at a dance company, a successful drag act, and the boy of his childhood dreams who now adores him. Even if the boyfriend part isn’t the sparkly ride of passion he expected it to be, life is sweet. So when his sister’s wedding calls him back to his hometown, he sees an opportunity to show the hicks from his past how wrong they were about him. Only, his boyfriend isn’t quite on board.

Brock Stubbs left their hometown and his parents behind for a reason, and the prospect of facing them again is terrifying. He swore he’d never go back, but Gigi has made it clear refusal isn’t an option, and Brock will do nearly anything for him. There’s just one deal-breaker of a problem: Brock promised Gigi he was out to everyone, including his parents. He lied.

It’s magical to run into the sunset together, but staying the course takes work. For Gigi and Brock, going home feels like the finale of a long, disappointing year. Sometimes love isn’t all you need.

The winters might be cold, but hearts are warm in Toronto. Canada’s largest city is home to a big lake, a big tower, and a big queer community. People here are trying to get by like everyone else: pay the bills, deal with life in the city, and maybe find some happiness along the way with someone who’s sweeter than maple candy and more constant than a Canadian’s love for Timmie’s coffee.

For some, falling in love is a real challenge. For others, falling is the easy part—it’s the happy ever after that proves a little more difficult. But in the end, love is worth every complication, misunderstanding, and occasional swear word.

Cass Lennox is a permanent expat who has lived in more countries than she cares to admit to and suffers from a chronic case of wanderlust as a result. She started writing stories at the tender age of eleven, but would be the first to say that the early years are best left forgotten and unread. A great believer in happy endings, she arrived at queer romance via fantasy, science fiction, literary fiction, and manga, and she can’t believe it took her that long. Her specialties are diverse characters, gooey happy ever afters, and brownies. She’s currently sequestered in a valley in southeast England.

To celebrate the release of Growing Pains, one lucky winner will receive $15 in Riptide Publishing credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on March 25, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Cover Artist: Catt Ford

Some Questions

Hello, Reader!I’m here because my first novel, The Sparky, has just come out, and the kind people at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words have let me give you a bit of idea about what it’s like via some questions they’ve posed.

How much of yourself goes into a character?

As this is my first novel, it’s only one data point so far.But, as I imagine is pretty typical for first novels, the answer would be “quite a bit”.There were a couple of times in the editing process where the editor would say “Would your characters really do X?”, and my answer was that that was something that had actually happened in my own life.

Do you feel there’s a tight line between Mary Sue or should I say Gary Stu and using your own experiences to create a character?

I’ve always thought that something that makes for a full Mary Sue or Gary Stu is that (in Wikipedia’s words) they’re “an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character” in addition to being an author surrogate.The experiences of my own that I use to create a character certainly aren’t only the positive, glowing ones!Among other things, I think my essential nerdiness comes through pretty strongly.(You’ll see this in the excerpt.)

Does research play a role into choosing which genre you write? Do you enjoy research or prefer making up your worlds and cultures?

Probably research—in my day job I am an academic, after all.I can spend days going down the rabbit hole of links and citations and references.But as a kid I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction, and I enjoyed making up worlds and cultures in tandem with that.Tolkien really got me imagining worlds at a fine level of detail.But the world-creating authors I especially like do an awful lot of research to make their worlds plausible—right now I’m rereading Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, and there’s a lot of anthropology research that went into that—so I think maybe research and making up worlds aren’t totally separate.

Has your choice of childhood or teenage reading genres carried into your own choices for writing?

Not really.Or maybe the answer is, Not yet.As I mentioned, I mostly used to read fantasy and sci-fi (and still read it now, although my book diet is more balanced), but I also used to read some romance—I’d borrow the latest Mills and Boon from one of my (female) friends, although I wouldn’t tell my other friends about it, it not being the conventional teenage boy thing.So I’m not sure why I ended up writing contemporary romance, except that it’s obviously more natural to write out of real life experience, and I’ve had more relationships with guys than with elves or aliens.And in a sense the story had a life of its own and just wanted to be born that way.(Cue Lady Gaga soundtrack.)

Do you read romances, as a teenager and as an adult?

I do, although I also read a lot of history, some fantasy and sci-fi, some mystery / thrillers, and what the other members of my bookclub refer to as Serious Literature.In romance, it’s a pretty mixed bag of authors I read.I like old work like Jane Austen, George Eliot, E. M. Forster and Georgette Heyer, but also some newer romance, both straight and gay.

What’s next for you as an author?

I am writing another novel, although it’s still in the early stages: I’ve just hit 10K words.It’s also contemporary romance, but otherwise quite different from The Sparky.There’s a bit of a thriller element to it, and a bit of politics as well—that’s how it is in my head and in my notes file at the moment, anyway.Who knows how it will turn out …

Blurb

Aaron’s been living in what his friend Howie calls a sexual desert. But an oasis appears on the horizon when Paul, a divorced electrician with a five-year-old daughter named Sam, moves in next door. He’s a country boy from northern Australia, and although he’s never been with a guy before, he has an impression that anything goes in the city. They find that the ordinary things in life—books, footie in the park, looking after Sam—lead them into an unlikely relationship.

But as their relationship slowly deepens, with Aaron spending time on Paul’s family’s cattle station, it becomes clear that Paul might have a harder time leaving the country behind. To him, happiness means a conventional life—including a mother for Sam. Being with his old friends convinces him he’s on the wrong path with Aaron, and he starts a relationship with a girl from his hometown. If he cannot find the courage to go after what he truly needs, he and Aaron will become nothing more than awkward neighbours.

Excerpt

[BACKGROUND: Noone knows Aaron and Paul are going out.At this point in the novel, Aaron’s visiting his sister Deelie just before Christmas, playing paintball with her and her friends.It’s one of those occasions when he’d really like to talk about Paul, but can’t.]

After that we go through the training and the warnings about face masks, goggles, neck and throat protection, dangerous shots, dangerous behaviour. Even as I’m walking out onto the ground, I’m not sure how I’ll bring myself to shoot teenage girls. Then I think about Mean Girls—that’ll help me see them as vicious threats. I manage to shoot one crouching in a wooden fort, and then another inexpertly hidden behind a tree, but then I’m hit. Deelie survives until the end.

As I drive us home in a rental car, I look over at her. She has a bruise forming on her right arm. I don’t know what from. “Heh, warrior princess.”

“You don’t still watch that, do you?”

“Maybe. There’s a kid next door up in Sydney and I’ve watched some episodes with her.”

I can’t talk about Paul with anyone, although sometimes it wants to bubble up out of me; this is the next best thing. Just touching on it, skirting the edges of it without actually giving anything away.

“Oh my God.”

“She’s pretty fierce, this kid.”

Last week on a visit through the back gate, Sam told me what she’d been up to at vacation care. As well as doing craft and going on an excursion to the park, she updated me on her playground relationships.

“Finn’s my frenemy,” she told me.

I wasn’t even aware that five-year-olds knew the word “frenemy.”

“Do you know what a frenemy is?”

“Someone who’s kind of a friend and kind of an enemy.”

So apparently they do know.

“Why are you frenemies?” I asked.

“We were playing Xena, and he was a baddie, and when I kicked him by accident, he hit me back on purpose.”

“Did you say sorry?”

“It was an accident.”

“You should still say sorry, though. Xena would if it was an accident.” That’s probably not in the canon, but I’m happy to make this up.

“Okay.”

I tell Deelie a bit more about Sam as I’m driving.

About the Author

Marek Moran is, in his day job, a computer science professor.If you want to know about shortest path graph algorithms, he’s your man.However, that’s probably not why you’re reading this.He currently lives in Sydney, Australia, and has previously lived in France, Germany and the US, enjoying travelling around and listening to people talk: he’s learnt to respond to enquiries after his wellbeing with a ça va merci, sehr gut danke or copacetic, thanks.

The only member of his book club to like George Eliot’s Mill on the Floss, he’s discovered that he enjoys writing romance as well as reading it; the other members of his book club don’t yet know this.He plays piano, squash, and his cards close to his chest.The Sparky is his first novel.

Aaron’s been living in what his friend Howie calls a sexual desert. But an oasis appears on the horizon when Paul, a divorced electrician with a five-year-old daughter named Sam, moves in next door. He’s a country boy from northern Australia, and although he’s never been with a guy before, he has an impression that anything goes in the city. They find that the ordinary things in life—books, footie in the park, looking after Sam—lead them into an unlikely relationship.

But as their relationship slowly deepens, with Aaron spending time on Paul’s family’s cattle station, it becomes clear that Paul might have a harder time leaving the country behind. To him, happiness means a conventional life—including a mother for Sam. Being with his old friends convinces him he’s on the wrong path with Aaron, and he starts a relationship with a girl from his hometown. If he cannot find the courage to go after what he truly needs, he and Aaron will become nothing more than awkward neighbours.

The Sparky by Marek Moran is well-written, and both the plot and the characters feel current and believable. Where that should work in most books favor, I think it hurts The Sparky because there are a lot of readers who will just find the dynamics between Aaron and Paul deplorable, especially Paul’s choices later after he and Aaron have begun a relationship. I’m not especially fond of them myself.

If Moran had not made Aaron and Paul so real, I think, perhaps, readers reactions would not be so in keeping to ones similar they would have to people they know in the same situations. I “understood” what made Paul decide to ‘straight’ again, you get his fear and the pressures, at least the ones he encounters in the small community and inside his head. Doesn’t make you like him or his actions any better or the pain he inflicts on Aaron. No these aren’t spoilers, they are part of the blurb. Hell, the whole story is laid out in the blurb, another trend I’m not liking these days. And Aaron’s actions? That of a huge-hearted man who can’t stop caring even when he’s knows he should. Also very understandable even if you want to give him a very stern talking to. I liked Aaron. He and Sam were among my favorite characters. Sam is Paul’s daughter with way more smarts than her dad. Sometimes that happens.

For me the biggest flaw in The Sparky? The fact that we never know the ‘whats or whys’ when Paul decides to come back around. Paul comes off as too changeable and that sets off so many flags. The switch back is too sudden and without any foundation for us (or Aaron for that matter) to judge that its real, to see why Paul made this life changing decision, the whole story just loses anchor and sort of floats away on a untrustworthy cloud of happiness.

Honestly, I hovered between a 2.75 rating and a 3 stars for The Sparky, but as I said the writing is excellent as are the characters. Just because I didn’t like their actions or relationship doesn’t mean the story doesn’t have merit. You might like this couple more than myself. Let me know if you do and why.

Cover Artist: Catt Ford. This cover art is confusing, misleading even. The story has nothing to do with cowboys. More with the suburbs and a electrician. Wrong, wrong. Put it on another story.

As a member of a covert military unit, John Davidson isn’t scared of much. Yet one look into Heath Kane’s dark blue eyes and he knows a different kind of fear for the first time. John can’t be gay, at least not out and proud in his unit, even with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repealed. He’s never been interested enough in any man to risk the fallout.

Heath’s hometown wasn’t the best place for a gay kid to grow up, but his grandmother did her darnedest to make it good for him. Now he’s paying her back for all her love. She’s getting older and needs help, so he returns home to wait tables at the Corner Café while taking online courses to get his degree. Even though the Army base provides him with a lot of buff eye candy, he knows it’s best to keep his head down.

Neither Heath nor John can deny their attraction, and John’s finally willing to act on their mutual interest. But holding on to each other will mean big changes in both their lives.

This was another wonderful sweet story. John has stayed in the closet due to his military career. He has been admiring Heath from a distance and knows he can’t do it for much longer. Heath has been admiring John right back, but fear from past experience and living in his hometown has kept him from making any advances.

John and Heath can’t deny their chemistry once they get the chance to be together. Heath is so adorable and can begin to ramble when he’s nervous or pretty much just anytime and John can’t help but find him more endearing because of it. John and Heath pretty much jump right in once they decide to take plunge into dating, but still take the time to learn more about each other.

Heath continues to hope that he won’t be hurt again by someone he decides to put his trust in and John has a pretty stable head on his shoulders which helps to counteract some of Heath’s more flighty qualities. Seeing them work through their issues and John having to make a life changing decision on if he wants to stay in the military is nice and helps connect with the characters and keep them down to earth. I loved seeing Chuck and Herb again when they came to visit and at the end.

Cover art by Anne Cain is great and I love the visuals of the characters.

It’s not easy breaking into show biz. Especially when you aren’t exactly loaded with talent. But Malcolm Fox won’t let a little thing like that hold him back.

Actually, it isn’t the show-business part of his life that bothers him as much as the romantic part—or the lack thereof. At twenty-six, Malcolm has never been in love. He lives in San Diego with his roommate, Beth, another struggling actor, and each of them is just as unsuccessful as the other. While Malcolm toddles off to this audition and that, he ponders the lack of excitement in his life. The lack of purpose. The lack of a man.

Then Beth’s brother moves in.

Freshly imported from Missouri of all places, Cory Williams is a towering hunk of muscles and innocence, and Malcolm is gobsmacked by the sexiness of his new roomie from the start. When infatuation enters the picture, Malcolm knows he’s really in trouble. After all, Cory is straight!

At least, that’s the general consensus.

Acting Up by John Inman has been a hard book to review. I love John Inman. I find his books hilarious, his characters by turns gut wrenchingly funny, full of self doubt, sometimes followed by the pain of their pasts or present, nerdy, shy, verbose, hormone driven, dog loving….characters that I could always connect with and love. Then came Malcolm.

Connecting with Malcolm took some doing, especially as the book’s in his pov. For about the first 25 to maybe even 30 percent I really struggled to like Malcolm. So snarky as to be self involved, he had just one too many traits that he threatened to derail his his own story. Even Cory showing up didn’t exactly help. Not immediately. Which was probably a good thing. It wouldn’t have felt believable. Malcolm had some thinking and growing to do. So did Cory. And right when you wanted to pack this story in, a funny thing happened, the characters turned themselves and it around.

Just prior to Cory making a confession, Malcolm had started to realize that his feelings were changing and therefore, his behavior should follow. And instead of a snarky hard to read story, Acting Up becomes a wonderful, sweet contemporary romance it really could have been/was all along. This includes Malcolm’s hilarious mother who always is there for surprisingly good advice (along with her latest beau) and Cory’s sis and Malcolm’s roommate. As John Inman swings us into the end of the story, he wraps up the romance with a finale that leaves us all smiling. I just wish it hadn’t taken so long to get it all started.

So I don’t know what to tell you. I loved 3/4th of this book and thought that made up for the beginning. But some of you might not be able to get through that 25 percent. That decision I will leave up to you.

Cover art by Reese Dante is wonderful and a perfect representation of the characters.